Many businesses, government agencies, education establishments, and other organizations have dedicated networks that enable computers, telephones, facsimile machines and the like to communicate with each other, and to communicate with devices in remote locations via a communications service provider. Conventionally, a dedicated network is hard wired using communication cables that contain conductive wires. In such hard wired systems, dedicated wires are coupled to individual service ports throughout a building, for example. The wires from the dedicated service ports conventionally extend throughout a building and into one or more closets. The communications lines from the interface hub of a main frame computer, network server or the like and the communication lines from external communication service providers may also terminate within a closet.
A network patching system is typically used to interconnect the various communication lines within a closet. In a conventional network patching system, the communication lines are terminated within a closet in an organized manner via one or more patch panels. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a typical patch panel support rack 10 is shown. The rack 10 retains a plurality of patch panels 12 that are mounted to the rack 10. On each of the patch panels 12 are located port assemblies 14. The illustrated port assemblies 14 each contain communication connector ports 16 (e.g., RJ-45 ports, RJ-11 ports, etc.). Other types of patch panels are known, including patch panels with optical fiber ports (e.g., SC, ST and LC ports) and 110-style copper wire ports.
Each of the different communication connector ports 16 is hard wired to a communications line. It will be understood that a “communications line” may comprise multiple copper wires or optical fibers. For example, a conventional “communication line” to an RJ-45 connector port comprises four differential wire pairs or a total of eight wires.
Each communications line is terminated on a patch panel 12 in an organized manner. In small patch systems, all communications lines may terminate on the patch panels of the same rack. In larger patch systems, multiple racks may be used, wherein different communications lines terminate on different racks. Interconnections between the various communications lines are made using patch cords 20. Both ends of a patch cord 20 are terminated with connectors 22, such as an RJ-45 or RJ-11 or 110-style communications connector. One end of a patch cord 20 is connected to a connector port 16 of a first communications line and the opposite end of the patch cord 20 is connected to a connector port 16 of a second communications line. By selectively connecting the various communications lines with patch cords 20, any combination of communications lines can be interconnected.
In many businesses, employee computers are assigned an IP address so that the employee, via the computer, can interface with a network. When an employee changes office locations, it may not be desirable to assign a new IP address. Rather, to preserve consistency in communications, it may be preferred that the IP address previously associated with the employee be transferred to the network port(s) in the employee's new office. To accomplish this task, patch cords in a communication closet are rearranged so that the previous IP address is now associated with his/her new office.
As employees move, and/or change positions, and/or add or subtract lines, the patch cords in a typical closet may require frequent rearrangement. Network patching systems that have the ability to sense a plug in a patch panel port or sense connection between two patch panel ports are referred to as intelligent patching systems. Intelligent patching systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,908, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A virtual local area network (VLAN) is a local area network (LAN) with a definition that maps workstations and devices on some other basis than geographic location (for example, by department, type of user, or primary application). VLAN technology enables logical grouping of data network nodes and related data transport infrastructure to extend LANs beyond the restrictions imposed by the underlying infrastructure. A VLAN controller or switch is conventionally provided to change or add workstations/devices connected to a VLAN. An exemplary VLAN service is the provision of voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) telephone service to selected users in an enterprise. This VLAN service can provide a predefined quality of service, a priority of service queue, etc. to users of IP phones in the enterprise.
Conventionally, when a user wishes to obtain the services provided by a particular VLAN, a network administrator or other similar person “provisions” the VLAN service to the requesting user after receiving a work order (e.g., a paper work order, electronic work order, etc.), i.e., the administrator provides the VLAN service to the user, including everything necessary to set up the service, such as equipment, wiring, patch panel connections in a closet, etc. VLAN provisioning also typically involves manually configuring a switch to provide a user with requested VLAN service. For example, in an enterprise environment, a network switch is manually reconfigured to provide a requested VLAN service to a user's LAN connection, for example in the user's office location. Moreover, a technician may be required to perform some work on the network, such as, for example, the following (a non-exhaustive list): install cabling, install patch panels, make patching changes in a closet, make changes in intermediate patching devices (e.g., consolidation points), install or move devices such as computers and/or phones, troubleshoot connection problems, configure network switches and other network equipment, etc.
As such, the provisioning of VLAN services over existing communication systems is a manual process. Moreover, many enterprise communication systems invoke manual follow-up by an administrator/technician to ensure that VLAN services have been correctly provisioned. As such, conventional provisioning of VLAN services can be time consuming and costly.